If Ernest Cline had high IQ and real emotional intelligence.

The two hour exposition dump at the beginning of the book should be considered a warcrime. Onboarding people into what a videogame is and how they work is agony to endure. This and the total explanation not only of the narrative but also the central tension is… unsatisfying. Please stop telling me literally everything. man.

Instead of a hot-start where we begin the story with Carl IN the dungeon, we’re stuck getting the Navi experience. At least it’s done as reasonably as it could have been. It’s not pulling teeth, we get some novicane.

Very creative in some ways, though. Credit where credit is due. The lampshading of death games paired with sci-fi troops and MMO tropes isn’t something I’ve seen without constant Joss Whedon writing.

This is SAO for the west— regrettable as it is that SAO exists when .dotHack already did.